Icy Water, Warm Heart
by MISSYAlexandra
Summary: After Kate Beckett has a near death experience on a case, Beckett spends the night at Castle's in more ways than one. Fluff.
1. Chapter 1

Kate Beckett and her team were lead to the docks in New York City where their latest murderer, Gerard Fletcher, was apparently hiding out. When they arrived, Beckett, Ryan and Esposito had split up to get a greater canvass of the area. Castle, for once in his life, obeyed Beckett's instructions and stayed in the car.

Kate was walking along the east side heading towards the pier, her gun drawn by her side and her hair whipping in the wind. Every so often she'd turn around to check behind her, especially since she'd been hearing strange noises ever since she'd left Ryan and Esposito. Almost convinced it was nothing, Beckett continued her search to find the mysterious Gerard Fletcher.

She saw movement in the water to the left of her, cop's instinct made her automatically look towards the water to check for any signs of danger. What she didn't see behind her was Gerard Fletcher creeping between the shipping containers and was steadily approaching her.

Her foot creaked on the wooden plank and she turned around, just fast enough to catch a glimpse of her attacker. He pushed her into the icy sea water below the pier and she let out a scream as loud as she possibly could before she went under, hoping one of the team would hear her and pull her out before she drowned.

The water was exceptionally cold, well considering it was late October and dusk was approaching at a steady speed. She felt like she had just jumped into one of those fridge compartments that turned water into ice cubes. Man she was freezing.

When Kate finally surfaced she gasped, sucking all the air in that she could while trying to stay afloat by treading water.

"BECKETT!" Kate heard the erratic voice of none other than Richard Castle, who had apparently decided to disobey her orders of staying in the car. But really, in a life or death situation like this one where he wasn't really in any imminent danger, she could hardly care what he was doing.

Castle was frantic, almost running around in circles like a dog chasing its tail, then she remembered he couldn't swim, and she didn't really like the idea of having to keep herself afloat while looking after Castle in the icy water without his floaties.

"Castle" gasped Kate, her voice sounding unusually husky "Get Esposito" she ordered, once she had control of her treading water abilities.

"Right. Esposito. Hang tight Kate, you'll be out of there in no time" replied Castle, processing the information in his brain, before running at full pace to find Esposito, clearly worried about Beckett's safety.

"I hope so" sighed Kate, feeling the icy water finally making her feel cold all over, even in her bones. This was probably what it felt like to have arthritis, and I'm not going to be around here to actually be old to find out what it really feels like. She began feeling lightheaded and bobbed under the water once or twice.

When Ryan, Esposito and Castle finally returned, Beckett was nowhere in sight...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'd just like to say thank you so much for all the alerts and reviews! Also, in a few reviews it mentioned the similarities to an episode of Grey's Anatomy. This is pure coincidence; I don't even watch Grey's! But should I be? **** Thanks again, I love you all **

"Shit! Beckett!" swore Castle "she was here ten seconds ago" panicked Castle.

Castle, Ryan and Esposito heard a noise from under the pier, when Beckett surfaced, coughing.

"You guys do know I'm still here" came Beckett's voice from under the pier. Kate saw three heads coming into focus from the top of the pier and she fiercely held onto the wooden post supporting the pier, which was currently her lifeline. "Are you three just going to stare at me all day? I'd like to be out of here before Christmas!" groaned Beckett.

"Oh, right" said Castle as Ryan and Esposito muttered in the background and started grabbing the rope and what else they needed from the rescue kit they'd brought over when Castle had alerted them about the current situation.

"You okay, Becks?" asked Castle, highly concerned of her current state of wellbeing.

"As well as I can be, floating in icy water at this stage" grimly replied Beckett.

"We'll get you out of there in a second" smiled Castle, although she knew him well enough to see the sadness behind his eyes. Beckett just floated there patiently until Ryan and Esposito were ready to help her out.

"Okay, Beckett the rope is coming down, you know the drill, grab it and yadda yadda yadda" said Esposito.

Beckett didn't reply, but just grabbed onto the rope with what strength she had left and put pressure with her feet on the post she had been holding onto moments earlier and mimicked the action of rock climbing without the rocks, obviously.

It didn't take Ryan and Esposito much effort to pull Kate up, after all, she wasn't very heavy. Once she could reach the top of the pier she pulled herself up the rest of the way, gasping for air.

Castle helped her sit up and wrapped a blanket from the rescue kit around her shoulders and sat next to her on the pier, rubbing his arm up and down her own as an effort to warm up her freezing body. He felt her relax against him and leant her head on his shoulder as her breathing slowly became normal.

Ryan and Esposito, behind them, decided to let them have this moment teasing free, especially after the events that had occurred in the last fifteen minutes.

"EMTs are on their way" said Ryan.

"Thanks Ryan" said Castle, noticing Kate's slight groan of annoyance at the subject.

Five minutes later, when the paramedics arrived, Castle stood up and helped Beckett up with his arm around her waist and over to the ambulance and helped her sit down and releasing her.

Beckett was examined by a paramedic named Jessica, who seemed to be pleased with her assessment of her current state.

Jessica removed the stethoscope from her ears and slung it around her neck after she'd finished.

"There isn't any major damage done, everything's normal, but I would like to keep Detective Beckett under observation at least for tonight, because she was in the water for approximately fifteen minutes, so there's still a possibility that she could go into shock" said Jessica, informing Beckett and Castle of the circumstances.

Beckett turned to Castle.

"I'm not spending the night in a hospital..." she complained.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm not spending a night at the hospital" Beckett told Castle.

"Detective Beckett, it's just a precaution. I don't want you to be at home without anyone there and you suddenly slip into shock" said Jessica the paramedic, expressing her concern. She looked at Beckett's irritated face, that seemed somewhat intimidating, she was a cop after all. Jessica hated to think how the criminals felt while being interrogated by her, but she could tell that she was good at her job. "I have an idea, you could stay with Richard tonight, so I know you'll be in good hands" said Jessica, suggesting the alternative.

"I'm not staying with Castle either!" replied Beckett, her voice full of hostility.

"Kate, I know you don't like this, but you need to make a decision. You can come stay with me, where you'll definitely see me, or you can go and spend the night in the hospital and I'll be there anyway" joked Castle, but there's seriousness behind every joke.

Kate sighed, this definitely wasn't going to go her way, she turned to Jessica. "How long are we talking?" she reluctantly agreed to staying with Castle.

"Twenty four hours at least, but it's the safest once it's been three days, usually all symptoms are gone after then, but it's completely up to you, however I do recommend the three days. I'll write up a medical certificate so she doesn't have to go to work for a week" said Jessica, getting back to work.

"Great. Thanks Jess" smiled Castle.

"Well, we'd better get going, it's getting dark and I don't want you catching a cold... or pneumonia!" said Castle.

"Castle, are you a mother or a father?" quizzed Beckett, a cheeky smile on her face.

The drive back to Castle's loft was unusually quiet, and for once, Castle was driving. It was indeed a very strange day. When they finally arrived, Beckett exited the car with the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. Castle silently offered to help her inside, but she put an end to that quickly with a fast "I'm fine".

Once the pair were inside, young Alexis Castle bounded out from the kitchen, in the direction of Rick to hug him, but quickly decided against it when she saw Kate.

"DETECTIVE BECKETT" screeched Alexis, rushing over to hug her, eliciting as slight 'oof' from Kate at the sudden contact, but Kate returned the hug anyway. "ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT HAPPENED?" asked Alexis, firing off a thousand questions at once.

Rick gently pulled Kate away from his concerned daughter and slipped an arm over her shoulder.

"Pumpkin, it's a long story, I'll tell you all about it later, but Kate will be staying with us for awhile under medical orders and right now she needs to get warmed up and start resting, otherwise that cutie of a paramedic will put me in her bad books" said Rick informing Alexis, while receiving a soft elbow to the ribs from Kate because of his 'cutie of a paramedic' comment.

Kate disentangled herself from Rick and began making her way up the stairs.

"I'm going to go take a bath if that's okay with you" said Kate, more making a statement than asking a question.

"Go for it. There should be a spare towel in the bathroom there already, but if there isn't, just yell out and I'll get one for you" replied Rick.

Kate nodded her thanks and continued walking up the stairs in the direction of the bathroom.


	4. Chapter 4

After closing the door to Castle's bathroom behind her, she was quickly reminded of large and luxurious it was. Memories of her apartment being blown up by that creep came back to her and she had to fight off a shudder at the thought.

She pulled off her wet clothes that were sticking to her skin and looked around for a place to drop them, which she just decided she'd leave them in the corner away from the door. If Castle didn't like it, that was his problem. He gave her the ultimatum; she just chose the better option.

Letting the bath fill up at a steady pace, she found some bubble bath that she poured it in. She assumed it was Alexis', and didn't think she'd mind. Kate contemplated going out there to ask if it was okay, but she couldn't see a bath robe and didn't particularly want to walk out there naked in front of Alexis and Castle. That could be awkward.

Once the bath had filled up, she cautiously dipped her left foot in, wincing at the sudden change in temperature, but she quickly became used to it and fully entered the bath. Kate was sure she'd never experienced anything like this before, she could almost fall asleep the bath was surprisingly comfortable and the warm water and aroma of bubble bath weren't doing much to help.

Kate had been relaxing in the tub for ten minutes, covered in bubbles when suddenly the bathroom door opened, and none other than her favourite writer, Richard Castle, walked in, while she was naked in the bath tub.

"CASTLE!" she screeched, trying to hide herself beneath the bubbles.

"Beckett! I've seen you naked before, besides, it's not as if I can see anything, you're covered in bubbles!" replied Castle covering his eyes for her own benefit.

"That was under different circumstances, and you didn't see anything!" complained Beckett.

"It's not as if I can see anything now, though" complained Castle.

"Castle, what are you doing in here anyway?" sighed Kate.

"I thought I could help you" replied Castle, trying to sound as helpful as he could.

"What, with my bath? In what way can you help that wouldn't be mildly inappropriate?" scoffed Kate.

"I was thinking I could wash your hair for you" grinned Castle.

"Wash my.. what? Why would I need help doing that of all things?" asked Kate.

"Well, I know if I had spent fifteen minutes in the icy water that I'd have achy, stiff limbs and I couldn't be bothered washing my own hair. Besides, if women don't shampoo and condition their hair, it becomes knotty and difficult to brush" stated Castle, trying to be as convincing as he can.

Kate sighed. He did have a point. Besides, when was the last time someone even offered to do something like this for her?

"You win, just don't pull my hair or I'll shoot you" threatened Kate.

Castle unbuttoned his shirt sleeve buttons and rolled them up above his elbows so his shirt wouldn't get wet and walked over to the edge of the tub that Kate's head was resting on with a satisfied grin on his face.

He grabbed the shampoo from the edge of the tub and squeezed a suitable amount onto the palm of his hand and began massaging it into Kate's hair and scalp. Even in its wet state, Kate's hair felt silky smooth between Castle's fingers, he'd always wanted to touch her hair like this, and this strange situation seemed to make it his lucky day, aside from the turn of the day's shocking events.

Kate felt herself relax even further into the tub, feeling Castle's hands carefully massaging the shampoo into every inch of her hair, she wondered if he'd done this for any other women, and she couldn't help but feel the slightest bit jealous at the thought. She quickly shoved the thoughts away to the back part of her mind. This was Richard Castle she was talking about; he had a daughter for god's sake! Of course he'd helped wash her hair before.

Castle whispered that he'd finished shampooing her hair and she could rinse it out. She pushed herself under the water, subsequently pushing her legs out of the water, unintentionally giving Castle a nice view. She ran her fingers though her hair, almost mimicking the action that Castle had been doing just moments ago, she resurfaced and returned to her original position, splashing water on Castle in the process.

"Whoa, detective, you're getting me wet" said Castle saucily.

"That's the price you pay for offering to was my hair" replied Kate, completely ignoring any form of innuendo that was in his last statement.

Castle continued his hair washing treatment on Kate, taking out the conditioner and began massaging it into her hair. He had almost massaged the entire portion on his palm into her hair when suddenly the bathroom door swung open, causing Castle and Beckett's heads to snap towards it, to see young Alexis Castle looking rather horrified, yet intrigued at the same time.

"Am I interrupting anything?" she asked cautiously.

Kate wondered to herself if any of the Castle family knew that you were supposed to knock before entering a closed bathroom.


	5. Chapter 5

"Uh, am I interrupting something?" asked young Alexis Castle from the doorway, examining her father and Detective Beckett's rather... compromising position.

"I uh.. ehem... no, not at all pumpkin, what's the matter?" replied Castle, coughing to hide his embarrassment while quickly disentangling his hands from Kate Beckett's silky hair, and standing up straight.

"Well, I was going to ask what you wanted for dinner. Gram said she was going to cook tonight, but it appears she's been "caught up" with Chet" said Alexis, using air quotations.

"Oh... I see... Pumpkin, did you have anything in mind?" enquired Castle, trying to banish the thought of his mother and Chet getting "caught up" from his 'innocent' mind.

"I was thinking we could just eat in... Chinese, maybe Italian" suggested Alexis.

"Chinese sounds good. Any objections?" he turned to Beckett, who was just relaxing in the tub, conditioner still not washed from her hair.

"No objections from me" replied Beckett, making a hand gesture to support her reply.

"Okay, Chinese it is. I'll just order a variety of food" replied Alexis, turning on her heel and walking out of the bathroom.

"That was close" said Castle, exhaling.

"What do you mean it was close, Castle? We weren't doing anything" asked Beckett.

"We were... um... ohh... we weren't either" replied Castle, finally collecting his thoughts that had gone astray.

"Yep, right. Castle, would you mind leaving so I can finish washing my hair?" questioned Beckett.

"Oh? Oh, um, yes, definitely" replied Castle as he scurried out of the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, Beckett came down the stairs, dressed in purple pyjama pants and a matching tank top, rubbing her hair dry with the towel she had used to dry herself.

"Hey Detective Beckett" greeted Alexis from the couch.

"Alexis, you don't have to call me Detective Beckett, I'm not at work. Call me Kate" replied Kate, smiling as she slung the towel over her shoulder.

"I mean, Kate, the food should be here in a few minutes, so make yourself comfortable" smiled Alexis.

"Fantastic. Do you know where your father has ran off to?" enquired Kate.

"Ahhh, I believe he retreated to his study after you kicked him out of the bathroom" smirked Alexis.

"Thanks.." coughed Kate, desperately trying not to turn bright red as she left the lounge room and headed towards Castle's study.

Kate lightly rapped on the door to Castle's study, even though it was open. When she didn't receive an answer, she padded through the study slowly, to find Castle seated behind his desk with his head in his hands.

"Castle?" asked Kate with a concerned voice.

"Oh hey, Beckett" replied Castle with sadness in his voice, not looking up at all.

Kate wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't seen Castle like this before, so she was clueless as to what to do. Also, she had no idea what was making Castle so upset. She tentatively moved towards him, slipped in between him and his desk and perched on the edge of it.

"Rick, what's wrong?" asked Kate softly, hoping to get some kind of response out of him.

Castle looked up at her from his hands and sighed.

"I don't know, Kate, I keep replaying the events from today through my head, and I keep thinking of the what ifs, what if I had been a minute too late? What if I couldn't find Ryan and Esposito?" asked Rick, fear in his eyes.

"I don't think a minute would've mattered too much.. I do know how to swim, Castle, I was doing fine" joked Kate, trying to take some of the seriousness out of the current situation, but decided to change approaches when she could see that he was in no way joking. "Rick, it's an occupational hazard, things will happen to us on the job and we know what we're in for once we join the force" Kate replied.

"Yeah, I know" sighed Castle "But I don't know what I'd do if I had lost you today" he whispered, standing up, the height difference between the pair suddenly more evident than before since Kate wasn't wearing her usual minimum three inch shoes and their proximity closer than usual as well.

"But you didn't. Don't think like that either, you've heard the phrase 'count your blessings instead of sheep' haven't you?" asked Kate, receiving a nod from Castle in reply.

"Good. Then you do just that" she smiled.

Castle sighed and pulled Kate into a hug, just enjoying the feel of her in his arms. She was a bit shocked at first, but soon reciprocated his hug by pushing herself even closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, letting her hands roam freely through the bottom of his short hair. She almost wondered to herself why she hadn't been in this somewhat intimate position with Castle before. She really could stay like this forever, not that she'd ever tell him that.

She moved even closer to him when she pressed the side of her face to his, feeling the stubble of his face brushing up against her smooth one, then finally burying her face in the crook of his neck, completely content.

Time seemed to just stay still, neither of them caring how long they'd been standing there. It was getting close to ten minutes when Alexis appeared at the door of the study.

"Oh! Sorry... again. Just thought I'd tell you that dinner has arrived" said Alexis as she retreated from the room, feeling silly for walking in on her father and Kate for the second time in an hour.

Kate pulled away from Rick, but he kept his hold on her arms, rubbing his hands up and down them and smiling sadly. Kate nodded in response, it always had amazed her that she could silently communicate with Castle and know exactly what he was feeling.

"We should probably go" suggested Kate.

"Yeah, we should. I don't want to be eating cold dinner" replied Castle as he removed his hands from her arms and followed Kate out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Alexis wasn't lying when she said that she would order a big variety of food. There had to be at least forty dollars worth of Chinese food here! Kate had wondered what they did with all of it, but they apparently froze a lot of the food they didn't eat and used it for other meals during the week. It suddenly all made sense to her.

After finishing dinner and having tiramisu with ice cream for dessert that Martha had apparently made during the day, Castle, Beckett and Alexis played a game of Monopoly, Kate of course, winning and trampling all over Castle's small estate. For a million dollar writer, the man sure was bad at keeping track of his finances.

The time was getting on for 10:30pm, when Kate suddenly realised how tired she was and the day's events were definitely taking a toll on her.

"I think I'm going to call it a night" said Kate informing Castle and Alexis while stretching and stifling a yawn.

Suddenly, Castle was up and out of his chair, on his feet and looking very alert.

"Beckett! Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Castle, fretting.

"Castle, I'm sure just because I was in freezing water for a few minutes it doesn't prevent me from sleeping. I don't have a concussion, I didn't even hit my head!" replied Kate, doing her best to try to reassure Castle that she was okay. Well, she FELT okay, and the paramedic said she was.

He looked at her with suspicion in his eyes.

"Are you agitated?" he asked quizzically.

"No, Castle, do I look it?" she asked seriously.

"Overactivity?"

"I just played Monopoly for the last hour and a half, is that too much?" she asked sarcastically.

"Anxious?"

"No"

"Is your judgement impaired?"

"No"

"Are you confused?"

"No"

"Detached?"

"CASTLE!" she snapped.

"What?"

"Castle, I know you're concerned, but please exercise some of that trust you have in me when I say I'm fine, believe me, and before you ask, I'm not just saying it to get you to leave me alone, I feel fine, and I'll tell you if I don't" replied Beckett.

"You don't mean that entirely" said Castle, seeing right through her.

"That I feel fine? Actually, I do. But I probably wouldn't tell you that I don't feel fine... unless it was deathly. If you would like to play the role of concerned parent, you're welcome to check on me during the night. Just don't watch me like you do when I'm doing my paperwork. That's creepy" smiled Beckett.

"Okay, go to bed, but expect me to come in during the night" said Castle.

"I have a guuuuuu-uuuuuuuuun" replied Beckett in a playful, threatening manner, while retreating up the stairs to Castle's spare bedroom.

Beckett shut the door of the guest bedroom behind her and flicked the light off, making her way over to the huge bed in the dark and stubbed her toe against the wooden leg of the bed. She growled and bit back a naughty word and limped the rest of the way over to the plush king sized bed and slipped in between the sheets.

The bed was exactly how she remembered it from when she stayed at Castle's after her apartment was blown up, silky sheets, a mattress to die for and pillows with the right level of squishiness. So this was how the rich live.

She made herself comfortable on her side, pulled the covers up and closed her eyes.

Twenty minutes passed and she still wasn't asleep.

She thought that maybe a different position would help, so she flipped onto her stomach and snuggled down into the pillow.

Another twenty minutes passed.

Her eyes snapped open. What the hell. The best bed in the world (well, to her it would be anyway) and she couldn't get to sleep. What was wrong with her? She groaned and turned onto her back and began doing deep breathing exercises that her dad swore worked.

In, out, in, out, in, out, in out, in, out, in, out, relax.

Another twenty minutes. It had been an hour since she had fallen into bed. This was getting ridiculous. Unable to just lay around in bed and hope that sleep would come to her, Kate kicked the covers off, climbed out of bed and headed back downstairs. She tiptoed down the stairs, careful not to wake the sleeping Castle or Alexis, and strangely found that one of the overhead lights in the kitchen, with none other than New York Times bestselling author, Richard Castle, perched on a bar stool with his shirt undone with pen in his hand, doing the crossword in the paper.

"Couldn't sleep?" he enquired, not looking up from his paper.

"Not a wink" she replied, walking over to the barstool opposite his, plopping down and studying him while cradling her head in her hand.

"I know exactly what you need" he announced, putting his pen down and looking up at her.

"And what is it that I need, Mr Castle?" asked Beckett, leaning forward on the counter, crossing her legs with an almost flirtatious smile on her face.

Castle busied himself in the cupboard, pulling out various ingredients that he needed, and reappeared moments later.

"You, Detective Beckett, need cocoa!" he announced triumphantly, holding up the tin of drinking chocolate.

"Seriously Castle, cocoa? Do I look like I'm eight to you?"

"Ah, Detective, there is no age limit on the consumption of cocoa. Besides, I thought you wanted to sleep, didn't you? I guarantee it'll work. Besides, even if it doesn't, your tastebuds will still thank you for providing such a delicious experience" reasoned Castle in a convincing manner.

"Fine, go ahead and make me a magical potion that'll supposedly help me sleep" she gave in eventually.

Rick poured, measured and mixed the appropriate ingredients together, then warmed the concoction on the stove to the suitable temperature, removed the saucepan from the stove, tipped the contents into a mug and sprinkled cinnamon and chocolate shavings on the top and proudly presented it to Beckett.

Kate tentatively took a sip and moaned rather loudly at the taste.

Castle was frozen. That noise was so un-Beckett like, and to hear something like that come from her mouth, was almost erotic. He quickly shook the thoughts of Beckett moaning from his mind. This was not the right time nor place.

"Castle, this is great! Where did you learn to make it?" enqiuired Beckett, clearly captivated by the taste, texture and aroma of the drink.

"That, my lovely detective, is a family secret" smirked Castle.

"Oh come on.. You're not seriously... Oh, I'll get you back one day" she replied, stifling another yawn. "I think your magic.. whatever it is, is working.. I'm going back to sleep now" she said, retreating up the stairs once again.

Castle smiled to himself and sat back down at his crossword puzzle.

His work was done here.

For now, anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

Although Castle's seemingly "magical" hot chocolate worked for awhile, it wasn't 100% effective. Kate was pulled from the land of slumber a mere two hours later, feeling just as cold, if not more than she did while going for a casual dip in the Hudson.

She rolled onto her stomach and leaned over the side of the bed to flick the electric blanket on. Locating the control, she pushed the switch up for maximum heat, but no light came on to indicate power. Irritation, curiosity and cold overwhelmed her. Wanting to get to the bottom of the problem immediately, she slid out of bed and dropped to the floor, followed the power lead to the outlet, discovering everything was indeed plugged in and turned on. Ideally, she should be warmish by now.

Groping the end table in search of the lamp switch, she turned it to the 'on' position... and nothing happened.

Great, there's a blackout.

She propped herself up against the side of the bed, only realising how cold she actually is. Having mild hypothermia and no warmth wasn't going to be beneficial to her in the slightest way. Lanie would kill her... and as a matter of fact, so would Castle.

Acting purely on instinct, she shoved herself up off the floor and left the guest bedroom. Get warm now, accommodate regret and express irritation with self later.

Padding around Rick Castle's loft barefoot, she tried to remember the layout and placement of all the furniture so she didn't injure herself or wake his entire family up in the process.

Successfully navigating the space with only stubbing her big toe on the coffee table once, she entered Castle's office and went through the already open door to his bedroom.

He was sprawled in the middle of the bed, resting on his stomach with his face buried in the pillow, while also conveniently lacking a shirt. Not being chilled to the bone due to submersion in icy cold water probably allowed him to do this.

What was her plan anyway? Aside from strut into Castle's bedroom and stand there, that is. Recalling her "act now, regret later" mantra that was so totally NOT Beckett, she closes the door to his bedroom and approaches the side of the bed that is least occupied, takes the deepest breath her lungs would allow her, picked up the covers, slid into Castle's bed and moved to the warmest part of it: where he was occupying.

The feeling of ice pressed against the length of his body had him jolting back into consciousness and on the verge of letting out a high pitched squeal, something that would probably considered "a girly scream", but was quickly muffled by Kate's anticipating hand pressed firmly over his mouth.

"Are you trying wake up all of Manhattan?" Kate murmured into Castle's ear while leaning half of her body over him in order to keep her hand on his mouth.

When she was satisfied that he wouldn't attempt to make another high pitched squeal, she removes her hand and sets it down on the bed next to her and wiggles under the covers further, while still maintaining a close proximity with Castle.

"Wha—What... What are you doing here, and why are you so cold? I mean, not that I don't like having you in my bed, not that you've been in here before or I've even thought about you being in it... and not that you're being cold or anything, you're so hot" rambled Castle, experiencing severe verbal diarrhoea, causing him to unintentionally spill all of his secrets to the woman currently in his bed.

He takes a moment to compose himself and his jumbled thoughts and settles for a simple "What brings you to my bed, Detective Beckett?"

Kate smirked. She loved the power she held over Castle, how she could turn the normally well composed New York Times bestselling author Richard Castle into a stuttering, blabbering mess, a far cry from the usually eloquently articulated man that he is with so little effort on her behalf.

"Well, Mr Castle, it appears that there has been a blackout in your building which has resulted in a lack of heat throughout your loft. Seeing as I spent a bit of time in ice water today, I decided to go to the warmest part of the house, which just happened to be your bed" deadpanned Kate, as though she was recounting someone else's chain of events, rather than her own.

"So you're here to sleep... and not to kill or freeze me with your icy limbs?" asked Castle tentatively, a shy smile spreading across his face at the realisation that she came to him.

She rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her own smile from his antics.

"No, Castle, I'm not going to kill you, but I can't guarantee I won't freeze you" she taunted, grinning evilly as she pushed up the leg of his pyjama pants and pressed her cold foot to the bare skin underneath, feeling satisfied at the short yelp she received in response to her actions.

"Kaaaaaatttteeeeee" he whined, moving out of the way of her foot so she was unable to assault him with her coldness for the third time. "You said you wanted to sleep... so let's sleep!" he continued. Apparently sleepy/sleep disturbed Castle significantly exceeds the allocated whining quota.

"Okay, I surrender" replied Kate, showing her hands in a gesture of defeat.

"Promise not to touch my legs with your feet until they're warm again?" asked Castle, his inner twelve year old boy on show.

"I promise" she said, rolling her eyes while sounding entirely insincere.

"Do you?" prodded Castle.

"Castle!"

He just smirked at her response.

Wordlessly, he snuggled back into bed, pulled the covers over him and Kate and waited for her to settle as well. He decided he would present his payback for the icy feet in a different, more appealing way, or at least he thought so.

Reaching across the bed, trying not to grope too inappropriately in the dark, Castle wraps his arm around her middle and tugs her closer to his side of the bed, while simultaneously moving closer so they meet in the middle of the bed. He certainly didn't miss the almost inaudible gasp that escaped her mouth in the process.

He situates himself behind her, her back pressed snugly against his front, aligning the length of their bodies while snaking one leg in between her two slender ones, providing maximum heat as her own personal manradiator. He moves his unoccupied hand to brush the curtain of silky hair away from neck and drops a whisper of a kiss to the spot behind her ear.

"Sleep, Kate" his deep, manly baritone rumbled in her ear.

Despite spending a short period of time in icy water in the middle of winter and still feeling the after effects of it, Kate Beckett felt warm in a different way; her heart felt warm because of none other than Richard Castle. And maybe someday she'd tell him about it. She was going to tell him, one day.


End file.
